Improvement in apparatus for forcing water by pneumatic pressure



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN I. GRUBER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR FORCING WATER BY PNEUMATIC PRESSURE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 43,770, dated August 9,1864.

T0 all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN P. GRUBER, of New York city, county and Stateof New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Water-Worksfor Supplying Houses or Fountains with Water 5 and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof',reference being'had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspeciiication, in which- Fignre lis a side elevation of my apparatusarranged with one water reservoir. Fig. 2 is au end elevation of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the two reservoirs or chambers.Fig. 4 is a view in detail of the i11- d notion-passage which is appliedto the Waterehamber of Figs. l, 2, and 3. l

Similar letters of reference indicate corre spending parts in theseveral gures.

The object of my invention is to obtain an apparatus by means of whichcondensed air can be practically and conveniently employed, either upona large or a small scale, for the purpose of forcing water or otherliquid to elevated points, as will be hereinafter described. v .A f

The nature of my invention consists in an apparatus which is composed,essentially, of an air-vessel for containing condensed air, an airengine for condensing air, a liquid vessel for containing the liquid tobe acted upon by the condensed air, and a valve applied to the lattervessel, which opens inward and admits ofthe introduction o t' liquidinto the said vessel when the pressure ofthe condensed air is cutoff-removed.

My invention also consists in providing the liquid-receiver of anapparatus, which will be hereinafter described, with means wherebyliquid, can be forced or introduced, when desired, into said receiver,whether the pressure in the same be removed or not.

My inventionfurther consists in a valve 'which is so constructed andapplied to the liqnidvessel of a forcing apparatus or fou'nt ain 7 thatthis valve can be made to operate automatically, and thus allow saidvessel to be refilled at pleasure in localities where itmight not alwaysbe desirable or convenient for a person to get at it, all as will behereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willdescribe one method of carrying it into effect.

In the accompanying drawings, Arepresen/ts a condensing-pum p, which isconstructed with a solid piston and a valve opening upward in its bottomfor the entrance of air into the pump when the piston is drawn up. Thisair pump or condensing engine may be constructed in any other suitablemanner, either as a single-actin g engine or a double-actin g engine,and it may bev worked by manual power or operated by other engines. Ator near the bottom of the condensing-pump is a pipe, B, which -leadsinto a strong reservoir, G, which should be made airtight, so that itwill retain within it, when desired, the air which is supplied by thepump A. This reservoir, which is to. contain highly-condensed air,should be constructed in such manner that it will safely contain all theair which can -be forced into it by the pump A, and, it' desired,asat'ety-valve may be applied to it, by which the amountfof pressure canbe readily ascertained.

From the reservoir O one or more pipes, D, lead ott' towater-reservoirs, one of which,

E, is represented in Figs. l and 3. The reservoir E is also made verystrong and airtight, and it may be made ot' any suitable capacity,governed, however, to some extent, by the size of the air-reservoir. Itmaybe placed within a well or cisteru and at any desired distance fromthe vessel O, which contains the condensed air. The water, or whateverliquid it is desired to force out of the reservoir E by the pressure ot'air above it, is introduced through a perforated tube, a, in the top of'this reservoir, which tube receives through it the stem b of a valve, c,that opens downward or into the reservoir. Theupperend of the valvestemb has a head formed on it or attached to it, to the upper end of which achain, e, is hooked, and this chain being connected to the short arm ofa lever, G, and the other end loaded by a weight, G', it will be seenthat the tubular passage a can be effectually closed by the valve e, andkept closed until it is desired to supply the reservoir with wateragain, when the chain is disconnected from the valvestem, and thefeed-pipe attached to the tube a and water forced through it.

Instead of disconnecting the chain from the valve-stem, as'now proposed,the long arm of the lever G maybe raised, which will produce thc sameeffect. This may be done by conlrivances so constructed and operated asto obviate the necessity of approaching the reservoir E. It is necessaryto shut off the communication D when the valve c is opened, othv erwisethe air from the reservoir Gwill escape through the tube a, and somedifficulty would be experienced in getting water through the tube a. Astop cock, C', will serve the above purpose, applied as represented inFigs. l land 3, and, if desirable, another stop-cock, B', may be appliedto the pipe B, leading from the base of the air-pump into theair-chamber, for preventing the air from this chamber escaping throughthe joints of the pump. The short pipe J, which is represented in Fig.3, leading from a point near the bottom of the water-reservoir throughits top, is the eduction-pipe for the water which is forced out of thisreservoir, and to the outer end of said "pipe a flexible hose may beattached, oran inflexible pipe leading off to a point or points whereverit is desired to conduct the Water. The ilow of water through thesebranch or service pipes may be checked at pleasure by means of cocks.

By means of the apparatus whichI have above described several thousandpounds pressure can always be kept in reserve for immediate use whenrequired, and by means of the condensing-pump the pressure can be keptup to a maximum point.

lt is not intended by my invention to keep the pump in operation duringthe opera-tion of drawing water from the reservoirs, although this maybe done, if desired, for I propose to force a sufficient quantity of airinto the air-- receiver to force out all the water or other liquidcontained in the Water receiver or receivers, whatever may be the numberemployed; and should it be found desirable to use a number of airreceivers, this may be done by connectin g each one with the'reservoirof water by means of pipes, and the combined pressure of air in all orany one of such receivers can be caused to act upon the Water in thereservoir as occasion may require.

The valve c, which I have fully described,

opens downward, or toward the inside of they liquid-receiver, for thepurpose of allowing liquid to be introduced into the vessel E Vthroughthe opening this valve is intended to close, and at the same timepreventing either theliquid or the air from escaping at said point. Itwill be seen that the head or shoulder b of the valve-stem b willprevent the valve c from falling very far below its seat when thepressure of air is taken off the liquid in vessel E, and when thecondensed air is again let into this vessel the pressure will forcethevvalve c to its seat and keep it there. simply discharging condensedair into vessel E, or removing the pressure inside of the same, I amenabled to elevate water from the bottom of a well by submerging thevessel E As this valve will thus operate by in the water of the well andlocating the vesp sel C at any convenient point where the valve C can bereadily got at and air forced into this latter vessel by means of acondensingpump. Now, by closing the valve U so as to allow water to runinto the vessel E, as above described, this watercan be forced out ofsaid vesselby opening the valve C again, and by this is not the case, alloat may be attached to l it by a stem from below, so that as thereservoir fills with water the buoyancy of this float may raise thevalve to its seat, where it will Vafterward be retained by the pressureof the air from within until the stop-cock C is again closed, and theair withinv the reservoir E is allowed to escape, so as to be ,relievedfrom the extraordinary pressure to which it has been subjected. Othercontrivances having a like effect may readily be substituted.

By unscrewing the cap to which the perferated 'tube a is fastened theinterior of the vessel E can be got at for cleaning it out.

In carrying out my invention it will benecessary to provide some meansfor allowing the condensed air in the liquid-vessel to` escape when thecommunication with thew condensedair vessel is closed, and for vthispurpose the cock which is applied 'to the pipe J may be opened, or asecond cock may be applied to the pipe D for this purpose.

What l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is e l. Ina fountain which is to be operated by the elastic pressure of condensedair, the arrangement herein described-that is to say, a reservoircontaining the water or other liquid to be operated upon', so contrivedthat it may at pleasure be subjected to or relieved from the elasticpressure of condensed air, in combination with a valve so constructedand arranged that it shall automatically close when the pressure isapplied and open when it is removed, substantially in the manner and forthe purpose hercinbeforc set forth.

2. In a fountain which is to be operated by the elastic force ofcondensed air, so constructing the same that the valve through which thefluid is to be received into the reservoir shall be kept closed by thepressure ot' the air from within, and shall open automaticall-y whenthat pressure is removed, substantially in the manner and for thepurposchereinbefore described.

Witness my hand in the matter of my ap! plication for a patent for a newand useful unprovement 1n water-works for supplying buildings, Src.,with water.

JOHN P. GRUBER.

' Witnesses: v

,CHARLES KLoMANN,

E. SCH/mnu.

